2 edits | reply to gigahurtz
Re: Seriously? said by gigahurtz:This is just now coming out? Anyone who has GV has known this for a long time. Wireless carriers are figuring out ways around this already. They will end "Friends & Faves" options. Or, eventually they will charge more for data. The pipe has to be paid for, no matter what Google wants.
Or they can do what Sprint did. Make GV irrelevant. 90% or more of my monthly phone calls are to cellphones. Sprint charges no minutes against mobile-to-mobile calls no matter the carrier calling or being called if you have a data plan on your smartphone. I have a GV account but it is not needed. So Sprint gets it's pipe paid for by users having a data plan and voice calls ride on that income for free. |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | said by fAcEtIOUs:Or, eventually they will charge more for data. The pipe has to be paid for, no matter what Google wants. I foresee rate increases. Also, the "Friends & Faves" options from the players that I've looked at already require you to pay up to receive the option in the first place. Paying up for more minutes to facilitate "free unlimited calling" kinds of minimizes/eliminates the benefit IMO. |
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 NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | I think Sprint has a feature called "Sprint to Home" or something like that. IIRC, it was $5/mo and allowed unlimited calls to/from your "home" line.
If I wasn't already getting a good discount from Sprint and used more than 450 minutes/mo to non-cell phones during prime time, I'd consider shelling out the extra $5/mo for this. Then all you have to do is designate your Google Voice number as your "home number".
My parents use a ton of prime time minutes each month, and are thinking about switching to Sprint from AT&T. If they do this, perhaps I'll set them each up with a Google Voice number first. Then they can just get a smartphone that has Google Voice apps (like the Palm Pre), get Sprint's lowest minute package with the "Sprint to Home" option, and use Google Voice for all their calls.
With this avenue available to customers, I wonder if Sprint will ever consider introducing a zero minute (or extremely cheap 100 minute or so) package. As long as there's Sprint to Home and Google Voice, I'd be set with essentially a free unlimited bucket of minutes.
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Nobel peace prize for Obammer... Now he's got one more thing in common with Arafat besides hating America. And he's just as succesful as Jimmy "the failure" Carter. |
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 SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA
1 edit | reply to openbox9
The article explains that you really have to be over-paying already to qualify for these features. Rate increases would only add insult to injury.
With the average cell user already paying $3/minute, what to the cell companies really have to complain about?!? |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | Huh? Over paying? $3/min...please explain. |
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SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | Maybe someone can find the original LA Times article, but here is one from my area:
»blogs.chron.com/techblog/archive···ell.html |
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pandoraPremium
join:2001-06-01
Outland
kudos:1 Reviews:
 ·ooma
·Google Voice
·Future Nine Corp..
 ·Comcast
| reply to NOVA_Guy
Sprint already has free pick 3 or free pick 5. In the Palm Pre appstore is a free google voice dialer that works off your contact list. You can already get free unlimited calling off almost any Sprint phone without much effort.
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"People demand freedom of speech as a compensation for the freedom of thought which they seldom use." |
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 cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5
 ·Frontier FiOS
| reply to openbox9
There was an article earlier this year of a survey of 700 San Diego cell phone users that found that, on average, consumers were paying $3/minute. The numbers were skewed by people that paid for many minutes but only used a few, but even excluding the extremes, people were still paying $.50-$1/minute. |
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NOVA_GuyObamaCare Kills AmericansPremium
join:2002-03-05 | reply to pandora
Thanks. Didn't know about the pick 3/pick 5 option. I'll set that up today and use my Google Voice number as one of the free call numbers.
I've already installed gDial Pro, so after I do that I guess I'm ready to go... with no extra $5/mo "Sprint to Home" charge needed. 
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Nobel peace prize for Obammer... Now he's got one more thing in common with Arafat besides hating America. And he's just as succesful as Jimmy "the failure" Carter. |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | reply to cdru
the study, conducted by the auditing firm TeleTruth on behalf of the Utility Consumers' Action Network and showing an average charge of $3.02 per minute, was based on 134 wireless bills. I'd need to look at the report before this claim can be taken seriously. Anyway, I don't look at my wireless phone bill as paying $x/min, I look at it as paying $y/mth for the convenience of always having a voice capability with me. |
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cdruGo ColtsPremium,MVM
join:2003-05-14
Fort Wayne, IN
kudos:5 Reviews:
·Frontier FiOS
| said by openbox9:I'd need to look at the report before this claim can be taken seriously. Take it for what it's worth. I'm not saying the methodology is right or wrong, I'm just pointing to where the $3/minute came from.
Anyway, I don't look at my wireless phone bill as paying $x/min, I look at it as paying $y/mth for the convenience of always having a voice capability with me. For many users that don't use it as a primary line and rather just a backup or while they are out type usage, prepaid may be far more economical as you still have the convenience of having the capability (as long as the minutes are there) but you aren't losing unused minutes at the end of the month. T-mobile for instance has rates as low as $.10 per minute which is only slightly higher then many of their monthly plans but the minutes don't expire for a year, or even longer if you top off within that year with additional funds. |
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 birdfeedrPremium,MVM
join:2001-08-11
Warwick, RI
kudos:5 | said by cdru:prepaid may be far more economical as you still have the convenience of having the capability (as long as the minutes are there) but you aren't losing unused minutes at the end of the month. Prepaid plan no longer offered by Verizon but grandfathered if you have it but don't change it, has a $15/mo. minimum bump (100 minutes), but unused minutes rollover, as long as you continue to renew. My wife's cellphone has 58+ hours primetime minutes accumulated. Double on nights and weekends.
The trouble with drawing the minutes down -- you gotta answer the phone when somebody calls. 
She uses it for emergency only.
The trouble with that $3/minute study mentioned earlier is it probably takes the monthly fee and divides it by the minutes actually used to come up with minutes cost. Which says a lot of people have plans they don't fully use.
"But I can make a call if I want to." |
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openbox9
join:2004-01-26
Alexandria, VA
kudos:2 | reply to SLD
Thanks for the article. While I think the article is lacking important data, I don't doubt that the cost/minute is relatively high. I don't consider this "over-paying", but more an opportunity cost of convenience. |
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SLDPremium
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA | reply to cdru
I use that. I pay about $100/yr for cell. |
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| reply to fAcEtIOUs
The pipe is already paid for... You mean, re-pay...
Google pays for their connection. I pay for my connection.
Where is it not paid for? |
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Reviews:
·Verizon FiOS
| reply to cdru
Plan AT&T Family w/1 iPhone 2000 min
Phones 5
Billable Minutes used 1706
Now if I only take the voice portion of the bill, and divide by the minutes used...about $0.09 per minutes if I round up.
We won't be using as many billable minutes this next month, that new 10 free numbers started.
I really miss T-Mobile, not only did I pay about $30 less for the same things, but each number had the fav 5. Now, if their service would just work at my house I could switch back.
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Retaking our country one election at a time. |
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| reply to birdfeedr
VZ does have a prepaid plan still. It's just $$$$ now. |
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